Rehabilitation
by AuribelleDaffodil
Summary: (venvan & other ships) Vanitas. A name he never thought he'd hear again. A face he can barely remember. But Ventus remembered everything else. And he had kept it all buried in the back of his head for the time he lived with his loving foster family. But now Vanitas lives with them. Living under the same roof as Ven and reopening old wounds. Can he and Ventus really live together?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my first vanven story ^^ It's been a while since I wrote anything and it's my first time writing a Kingdom Hearts fic, but I do hope you enjoy the story. I'll be keeping a schedule to update this fic every Friday or so, if not the weekend. Please see the end chapter for a little more info. Hope you guys enjoy the fic!**

"Ven! You make sure you and Xion drop off the girls before you two go to school, alright? Your dad and I have to go to work-"

"As soon as yesterday."

"Right. That soon. You got it?!"

"Loud and clear!" Zipping up his backpack, Ventus threw his bag over shoulder and hurried his way down the creaky steps, smiling as the three little girls waiting there for him were already slipping their shoes on and making a grab for their coats hanging on the coat rack. The littlest grunted as she stood up on her tip-toes, barely reaching it. "Hold on. Up we go." Placing his backpack on the ground, Ventus grabbed her by the waist and gave her a boost, allowing her to swipe the coat.

"Ven! Pick me up, too! I wanna fly, too!"

"OK, Yuna, OK," Chuckling, he placed Rikku on the ground before lifting Yuna into the air, spinning around in a circle and causing her to giggle and wave her arms about. He looked over to the last of the sisters. "Paine-"

"I'm good," She held up her hand, stopping him. "I don't want to get sick."

"Got it." Trading Yuna for his backpack, Ventus looked up just in time as his sister hurried down the stairs, fumbling with some of her books. "Need help carrying those, Xion?"

"Oh no, I got it!" It didn't look that way as her biology book toppled to the floor. A sigh escaped from the castle comprised entirely out of books. "Help, Ven?" It asked.

He grabbed her book and scooped several others from her arms, shaking his head when she tried to protest. "You asked for my help, you're getting all of it." Another sigh. "Hey, do you know why Seifer isn't taking the girls to school today?"

"He said something about going to early football practice-"

"And by that, you mean he's looking for Hayner to mess with before basketball practice."

"Please don't say I told you," His sister threw a small, sheepish smile, her voice low so that the men in the kitchen couldn't hear her. "He said he was really going to try and be honest with him this time. He even bought him some flowers-"

"I'm not going to say anything but he better keep that promise. Cloud's gonna be mad if he finds out why he couldn't take the girls." Flowers, huh. He didn't peg his older brother for the romantic type. But he did thought it was sweet of him to go through with buying them to give them to his crush. He only hoped that this idea of his would work, since it left Ven and Xion with the most difficult job of the house; watching the younger kids while walking to school.

Seifer had bought a car (with their parents help). A used Toyota with chipped paint but a car Cloud had trusted Seifer with so long as he made sure to drive the younger kids to school. It wasn't like they lived in a bad neighborhood, though. In fact, Twilight Town was probably the most safest and friendliest places to live.

No it was the fact that no matter what time of the day, from the crack of dawn to the rise of the moon, his sisters would run off together and cause mischief the moment they had the chance. It was enough to gain the attention of their neighbors so the children of the Valentine household had to take shifts and watch over the girls whenever they went outside, their parents and Seifer the most since they were the three the girls listened to the most.

Ventus loved these girls with all his heart but he would be lying if he said watching them didn't tire him out. Now they were kids so anything they did pull was harmless but because they were in a group, were small, and ran _fast_ , there was no telling what they could do. And at least in a car, they could be buckled up. "Anyway, lets go. Or we're gonna be late. We're leaving!" He called as he opened the front door.

Cloud poked his head out of the kitchen. "OK, you kids be safe! And Ven, Xion! Make sure you tell Sora and Roxas they need to come home early. Same goes for you two!"

"Have any idea what that means?" Asked Ven over the sisters excitedly shouting goodbye to their dad.

"No clue." Xion shook her head. Every kid in the house came home at different times, even she, the twins, and Ven since they all attended clubs or had friends. Why Cloud wanted all four of them to come back home at the same time was strange. "You don't think something bad happened do you?"

Ven bit his lip for a moment before he shook his head. Cloud would have been upfront with them if something bad had happened. "No way," He said, double checking Rikku's bag before she scurried off with her sisters -she almost always forgot her lunch. She didn't this time. "Maybe it's just a surprise visit from Aeleus." He said as he swung the metal gate surrounding the house behind them.

"That doesn't sound any less bad."

"Why? Aeleus is nice!"

"How can you tell? I can never tell what he's thinking because he's always so quiet."

"Xion, don't you think that's a _little_ hypocritical?"

Third sigh. Xion was on a roll today. "You know what I mean."

"I do, but even a visit from Aeleus isn't bad." After all, the man had been his, his brothers, and sisters social worker ever since they were put in the system. And though not a man of many words, he was definitely the nicest social worker he ever came across. And the visits he had made to the Valentine's had been efficient, if not pleasant. He even cracked a smile the last time he came. Or a grimace. Ven couldn't tell since he wasn't making direct eye-contact. "And they're always short anyway. Look, Cloud's probably going to ask us to clean the house a little before Seifer comes back. Then they're gonna show up and then we'll all sit down with Aeleus, answer some questions, tell him we're doing fine, and the visit will be over before we know it." He offered her a reassuring smile. "Let's not worry about it for now." Xion went bug-eyed. "Xi, I said let's not worry about it-"

"Not that, the girls!"

Ven spun around at that, and groaned as he saw the little terror of a tornado that was his sisters. They were at it _again_.

"Seifer, you owe us! Rikku, Yuna, Paine, where do you think you're going with those lawn gnomes- Those aren't yours! Girls! Girls!"

* * *

"-And then he shows up with _flowers_ _out_ _of_ _nowhere-"_

"Hayner thought they were part of a prank and got into an argument with him. We know, Roxas we were there."

Ven winced as he heard this. He had been there to see it and he was sure Seifer wasn't going to come home until he got patched up at Fuu's. Not until he could fix up whatever pride he had left, at least.

Roxas sported a grin. "It was still pretty amazing. I'm gonna bug the shit out of him when we get home."

"Rox, come on," The brown-haired boy who wore the latter's face gave him a look. "Seifer was trying today. Cut him some slack." He said. "He already got his butt kicked, you don't need to kick him down more."

Roxas back-pedaled for a moment. When Sora disagreed with him, he knew he needed to stop where he was or ease up. He chose the latter. "Fine… I give him a week. After that, I will be merciless."

"I thought it was sweet," Chirped in Xion. Roxas made a vomit motion and his sister pouted while Sora his a laugh. "I'm serious. Seifer's never acted this way around anyone. I think he really does like Hayner."

"Xi, the two of them have been fighting since middle school." Said Roxas as he bucked a stone on the sidewalk. "I don't think someone who goes out of his way to pick a fight with a junior during their free period likes the guy he's trying to fight. Besides," Roxas gave another grin. "Hayner's too awesome for him."

Ventus knew that this was Roxas' way of coping with today. He would probably act the same if he found out his foster brother was trying to ask his best friend out. Well, maybe with less… _passion_ than Roxas had. He could tell that seeing the whole thing go down was probably one of the weirdest moments in Roxas' life, if not invading since Hayner was the first friend he made when he and Sora were brought into the home. He promised himself he'd hear his brother out after dinner. And maybe lend a shoulder to Seifer after that. The argument had gone bad _really_ fast.

By now, Twilight town was obtaining its namesake as orange and pink colors washed over its brick buildings and cobble-stoned streets. Since winter was trailing behind slowly, it was already starting to get dark, with the street lights beginning to flicker to life and fallen leaves crunching underneath their shoes. A cold wind blew and Ven shivered, wrapping his muffler a little more tight around his neck.

"By the way, do you guys know why Cloud wants us to come home so soon?" Asked Sora with Yuna sitting on his shoulders, her head and arms tucked on top of his head. She was already tired out, thankfully so since Rikku and Paine were now walking close with the rest of the group. "You don't think something bad happened, right?"

"You guys can't just assume that it's something bad." Roxas pointed out.

"But what if it is?" Interjected Xion nervously.

"Xion-"

"Sephiroth's home early, too?" All of their heads whipped over to the black car parked in the driveway. OK, now as the time to start assuming that something was going on. "He always working until ten on Thursdays though." Sora shifted his gaze from the car to his siblings. "Is it… Is it too late to duck over to Riku's place for a sleepover?"

"Sora, you had a sleepover two days ago."

"I'm overdue for another one."

"C'mon." Ven took ahold of Paine and Rikku's hands, the two girls going quiet for the first time today. That didn't comfort Ven but he knew he had to take charge. He was the oldest (A year older than the twins and Xion but still the oldest) of the group and as the oldest, he had to make an example, and prove to them that everything was OK. He took a breath and headed for the house, the others trailing behind him.

He had lived here for the past decade. This house was the first home he had ever known and he loved everything about it. From the wooden beams scratched up with height charts and from foul balls to the old tire swing hanging from the tree in front of it. It creaked as the wind blew against it and was in need for a new paint job soon. But this was _home_. It was a comfort and safe haven. And Ven kept telling himself this even as his mind raced with the reasons to why they needed to come home so soon.

"We're home-!" _Crash!_ That didn't sound good. And didn't look good, judging by how small the crack through the door was. "Uh-" Before he could step back and call for Cloud, the door swung open and a man with long hair and deep brooding eyes welcomed him at the door.

"Sephy!" Yuna, awake and scrambling off Sora, leaped at Sephiroth's legs, along with her sisters. They hugged his legs as if they hadn't seen him yesterday and the tall man patted their heads in return. Ven hid a smile.

"Hey."

"You almost broke whatever was in the box, Ventus." And _there_ was the foster father he knew and loved. Never one to drop his distant persona. Scooping Yuna in his arms (did he know how tired she was just by looking at her?) Sephiroth shoved away the box that was up against the door and everyone shuffled in, a few more boxes decorating the floors and stairs, some sealed with tape, others new and packed with some things.

"Um," Xion was the first to speak, her foster brothers holding their breath. "We aren't… We aren't moving, are we?"

"Wouldn't we have told you we were moving?" Asked Sephiroth, stoic even as he picked up Rikku ("I'm good. The height will make me sick." Said Paine). Xion nodded slowly. "Then we aren't moving." He raised an eyebrow at their collective sigh of relief. "We do need help moving these boxes though. There are so many, Cloud and I cannot move them to the shed on our own."

"Wait," Roxas went over to one of the boxes and pulled out an old puzzle book, it's pages yellowing and fading. "This is stuff from the attic."

"And now it's going to be stuff from the shed." Sephiroth placed Yuna on the couch, the little brunette already tuckered out and curling up on the couch. "Two of you go help Cloud in the attic while the rest of you stay here and help me. Come on, we need to get this done before dinner."

Ven and Roxas hurried upstairs while Sora and Xion made a grab for the boxes, an unspoken agreement shared between them all. The blondes heaved themselves into the attic, the air stale from being sealed for so long, and soon found Cloud sealing a box of old knick knacks nearby. "Need some help?" Quirked in Roxas.

"Please?" Cloud looked at the pair and smiled, happy to see them already jump into work by grabbing themselves some work gloves lying nearby."Just help me carry the last of these boxes downstairs and help me grab the bags I left in the kitchen. Oh! And the broom and duster from the hallway closet. I already sprayed and aired the place out for bugs, we just need to clean up the dust and dirt."

Roxas and Ventus shared a look but they didn't start asking questions until they were sweeping and dusting out the attic. "So," Roxas began, gathering some dirt in a dustpan. "Why are we cleaning out the attic?"

"Sephiroth didn't tell you yet?" Asked Cloud. At their silence, Cloud gave a small chuckle. Of course he didn't. Leave it to his husband to make him do anything that involved speaking. "I'm sorry. We both had to take off for work and I had to head down to the office so there wasn't much time to say." Uh-oh, more silence. He looked up and met their pale faces. It was because he said office, wasn't it? "Nothing bad, guys, nothing bad. Aeleus had nothing but good things to say about all of you during his last visit."

"Oh… Then why…." Ventus waved his hand in the air, hoping to find the answer to the questions.

"Cloud!" A box had climbed its way up the ladder and slid over to the blonde's feet, the boys recognizing the same logo on it from the student store at school. "Seph said you wanted to have this on the bed. Whose it for?"

"Thanks, kiddo." Cloud picked up the box and placed it on the bed. "It's for the new boy coming to live with us."

"New what?!" Chorused the children of the house, the sound of Sora yelping and falling off the ladder came tumbling after.

* * *

Bright purple looked surprisingly pretty on Sora.

"Tight enough?" Asked Cloud.

Sora nodded. "Can't feel a thing!"

If only the reason they found that out wasn't because of the gauze the brunette now wore around his ankle.

Cloud chuckled. "That might not be what you'll want to go for but let me know if you want to loosen it." He said, accepting the ice pack Sephiroth had fetched from the kitchen before placing it on Sora's ankle. "This should keep the swelling down. Are you sure you aren't hurt anywhere else?"

"I'm fine, Cloud. Really." Sora almost proved his point by trying to stand but Roxas and Ventus made sure he stayed put in the recliner he was placed in, despite the latter pouting. "It's only a sprain anyway. It just sucks I can't play baseball for a while."

"You'll be playing again before you know it. You must be patient," Said Sephiroth as he took a seat on the couch, Rikku scrambling up to sit next to him and play with his hair. "May I ask what caused all of you to freak out so much that Sora slipped off the ladder?" He asked, still managing to look stern as his hair was being braided.

"I guess we did get carried away," Admitted Roxas as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry." Ventus nodded in agreement, feeling like he played a part in Sora's fall.

"As long as you boys know that you are. I should say sorry too, though." Cloud stood, closing the first aid kit. "I should have told you that a new kid was going to be staying with us."

"'Staying'? You mean he's not going to live here until he's adopted?" Asked Xion.

Their foster parents shared a look. That wasn't a good sign. "Well, he's different. He's been moved around to a lot of other homes-"

"So," Roxas treaded through this as carefully as he could. "What's wrong with him?" Well, he tried at least.

"Rox," Cloud looked down at the teen. "Nothing is wrong with him. He's just had troubled adjusting to different families and homes and some of them thought it would be better if he tried living in a new environment instead of theirs."

"So he's _trouble_." Sora added, his brother nodding in agreement.

"No," Cloud became firm. "You guys, you all know what it was like to be moved around at least once, and to come to a new house. It's not easy and I'm sure it hasn't been easy for him to live with a new family constantly. We're going to make him as comfortable as he can be and you guys are going to make sure he can adjust to going to a new school. Right?"

The foster dads were given more or less nods and voices of agreement. "Good." Cloud's smile returned. "Since we got most of the stuff upstairs and all that's left is to add bed sheets and covers to his bed, I can handle that tomorrow. Everyone get washed up and start on your chores for dinner. Ven, it's your turn to help me cook tonight. Sora, stay on the couch and keep your foot up."

Sora groaned, and that was everyone's signal to get started on their chores. Ventus followed Cloud into the kitchen and started helping him prepare a casserole for dinner, cleaning up the table before Xion could start setting it up for dinner. There was a ton of papers and plastic plates filled with finger paint that needed to be started or thrown away. Letters from the bank, cards advertising vacations, a clipboard with papers from the office- hold on a second. Curious, Ven picked up the clipboard and leafed through it. "Hey Cloud, is this the guy-" The clipboard suddenly felt like dead weight, and Ventus dropped it as he lost his breath.

"Ventus!" Before the clipboard met the ground, Cloud swiftly caught it. "You need to be careful. I still need to finish signing these papers and I can't get them dirty… Ven? Hey," Cloud stood in front of the young man as he wore a blank expression. "Ventus?" He asked cautiously, placing his hands on his shoulders. He hadn't seen him wore a face like this since he was first bought into the home. "Hey, what's wrong…?"

And just like that, the boy returned. As if he hadn't turn into a zombie a few seconds ago. He blinked and matched Cloud's confused face. "Nothing…? Sorry, I spaced out. You want me to wash the carrots right." It was all said in a rush, like Ven was trying too hard to act normal, but Cloud wasn't going to prod. Ventus would tell him if something was wrong if he wanted to. Even as his foster son stepped around and huddled by the refrigerator, Cloud still couldn't help but worry.

* * *

He could warm this up without waking anyone. He was sure of it. He just had to hit cancel at the very last second-

"So _now_ you feel like eating."

Ventus jumped, and he would have probably been wearing a purple leg snuggly like Sora had he not caught himself, the Tupperware filled with casserole held tight to his chest. His eyes had adjusted to the dark by now but he had just missed Sephiroth sitting on the two-seater couch with the tv volume on low, the milky and dim light glowing softly around the room and providing a small light source for the man's book. Had he been watching him since his descent down the stairs?

Ven smiled guiltily. "I thought no one was up."

"And I thought up you said you weren't hungry at dinner. Seifer I can understand since of that split lip he has. You never miss a meal though, Ventus." Green eyes glanced at the Tupperware. "It's unhealthy to eat something so heavy this late," A growling stomach sassed at him. Sephiroth did not like to be sassed. "… So make sure you eat a small portion with water. No juice. Have an apple if you still feel hungry."

Nodding, Ventus placed his share in the microwave and set the timer, fetching the plate and the glass of water once his food was ready. His mouth watered as he sat down at the table and dug into the food, the hunger he lost before returning.

"Maybe two apples?" Sephiroth observed the blonde from his spot, pushing his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose. "And perhaps an explanation to why you didn't eat at dinner?"

Once the food was gone, Ven quickly went to the sink and ran warm water over the already crusty plate. "I," There was a pause. A pause that was too long and awkward for Ven to pull off. "I had a lot of stuff on my mind."

"That stuff being Vanitas?" Ventus almost dropped the plate. He fumbled with it and it clicked against the sink, but no above them woke up as the blonde turned off the water. All was silent, save for the slight heavy breathing that came from Ventus. "Ventus," No bullshit. No worry. Ventus appreciated his foster father for keeping a level head. At least one of them was. "He's been going to therapy. He's been in very loving homes before, he just never adjusted with them. He no longer lives with grandfather anymore. _Neither_ of you live with him any more." Ventus was shaking. "Remember, you're far away from him and he can't hurt you. And neither will Vanitas. Cloud and I will be sure of it."

"W-Why…" Ventus swallowed. "Why here? Why are they sending him here?"

"You know Cloud. Services came to us when they had no one else to go to. Vanitas is too old to be taken into the other families with smaller children. Our home is the nearest one that still takes in and can afford to raise older children. He accepted before we looked further into it." Silence. Sephiroth wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. "And Cloud and I talked about it. Whatever happened in the past, Vanitas must not have any memory of it."

Ventus did. He still had the nightmares. He still couldn't get on elevators or buses without feeling as if the walls were closing in on him. What made Sephiroth so sure that Vanitas would have forgotten. "Ven, you were able to overcome it. You took the medicine and you still visit the therapist. You were able to accept what happened and move on with your life. Vanitas probably needs help with that. Maybe you can help him."

Vanitas. Sephiroth speaking more than two sentences. The casserole having way too many carrots. Why was this going on all in one day?

"I…" He swallowed and looked down at his half-full cup. He felt so thirsty but at the same time, he didn't. "Can I… Sleep on this?"

His caretaker nodded.

"Um…" Ventus felt his face go red. "Can I sleep in the couch?" Another nod. "Andcanyouwatchmefallasleep?" He added in a quiet rush, staring holes into the kitchen floor.

"I'm reading so I can't keep an eye on you," Sephiroth opened his book again. "But I will make sure you aren't going to sneak off to the kitchen to grab some of the powdered donuts for dessert. Grab the blanket on the loveseat -don't know why Seifer insists on having the air conditioner on during fall of all seasons I'll never understand that boy…" Sephiroth's ramblings quieted down as he went back to his book.

Ventus felt a lot better. He wasn't fine, but at least he felt better as he walked in and grabbed the throw off the love seat. Now that he was in the living room, he could see Sora lying back in the recliner, Yuna's Disney princess-themed blanket covering him as he slept on his back. He stifled a laugh. His eyes traveled over to Sephiroth and he could now see Paine and Rikku curled up against his chest and Yuna sleeping at his side, all three little girls far off into dream land. Ven's hand went to his pocket.

"One picture and I promise you'll be searching for that phone at the community pool." Rats. Just when he was about to pull it out.

"Night, Sephiroth." He mumbled, lying down on the family sofa and getting comfortable. That prickly feeling at the pit of his stomach was still there and he was sure it wasn't going away even after he fell asleep. No the nightmares would be sure that it would feel a hundred times worse in his dreams and give him ghost pain in the morning. But when someone ruffled his hair gently shortly after he closed his eyes, the feeling began to shrink a little. How Sephiroth was able to get up and reassure him like he had with girls and without waking said munchkins, Ven wasn't sure. But hey, so many other impossible things were starting to happen that night. Why not add one more to the list?

 **Thanks again for reading the fic! While working on this fic, I promise to do my best to look into how foster care is done in order to get a more accurate environment for the fic but please bare with me if some themes or moments don't seem right. I still need to do more research and some things that happen are just needed for the fic. I'm still sorry if some of my information on the topic is inaccurate.**

 **Anyway, thank you once again for checking out the fic ^^ I will keep to my planned schedule as much as I can and I do hope you'll enjoy with what I come up with for it. Thanks again!**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hey guys! Just here to give a small warning before the new chapter starts. As the tags state above, there will be some hard subjects in this fic. I'd just like to address while these moments are brief and happen every now and then, they are not meant to be treated as a joke. If at anyway it seems like that in this fic, then I must apologize for not looking further into the siubject and will edit the scene it occared in should it be needed. With that, I want to thank you guys for your support in the first chapter. It's all been so humbling to see you guys enjoy chapter one ^^ And I hope you feel the same about chapter two. Thanks again!_**

* * *

 _He had been sitting there for an hour. His backside was starting to numb, but it was better than the cot they had him on. And that cot was better than the floor. A lot of things were better than the floor._

 _The whole lobby was quiet, except for the computers. Old dinosaurs, joked the women at the desks. They sounded like them, too. Or what the nurses made them sound like whenever they read him a bed time story. He liked those stories. They made it easier to fall asleep, to not have nightmares. He had a lot of nightmares before. Nightmares that made him wake in a cold sweat, that caused him to scream himself awake._

 _"He's right over there, Mr. Valentine." He heard one of the ladies say. They talked about complicated things before they walked over to him, quietly so not to scare him. Too late for that. He was **already** terrified. "Ventus." His hands were shaking. He trembled even though there was a blanket over his shoulders. He wasn't cold. "It's OK, sweetie." The lady placed her hand on his shoulder and he began to calm down. Her hand was warm and soft. Not cold and calloused. "You remembered to get your stuff ready, right?" He nodded, his backpack on the bench. He didn't have much, though. Just a few parting gifts from the staff and a harmonica he picked up off the floor. It didn't work anymore. "Good. You can call whenever you like, OK? Remember all the numbers I told you about?"_

H _e recited them to her._

 _"Good job!" She ruffled his hair. He liked it. It was different than being shoved to the floor. "You be good, OK? You're gonna be fine." She pulled away, and in her place stood a man. His coat was still wet from the rain. His hair stuck out in different directions and his cheeks were flushed from the cold. He also had a white container. It smelt good._

 _"Hungry?" The man chuckled; Ven was already grasping at the container, drooling. "It's all yours, Ventus." He knelt down and smiled, his blue eyes kind and welcoming. "It's nice to meet you. My name is-_ "

* * *

"Cloud," Ven looked over to his guardian as they sat in traffic. "How much longer before we get there?"

"When the cars let up, five minutes. With them," Cloud peeked out the window a little to glare at the train of cars in front of them. "I'll let you know." He said, his hand resting on the car horn. Ventus held back a grin. Cloud looked kind and sweet at first glance but his road rage was something not to be messed with. Knowing this made Ventus felt a lot better about having to wake early that Saturday morning to pick up Vanitas.

Right, that was what they were going to do. And now that he remembered, he suddenly felt a little car sick.

"Once we pick him up, let's see if he wants to go get some food. We can take it to go and let him eat back home while we move his stuff upstairs." Said Cloud as they moved an inch.

"Does he have a lot of stuff?" Asked Ven.

"Aerith didn't say," Finally they were off the freeway. Cloud drew away from the car horn. "We'll just have to wait and see."

Right. That's all they could do as they drove closer and closer to the agency. The lump in Ven's throat still hadn't gone down.

They parked their car a block away and walked straight towards the adoption agency, the smell of floor cleaner and flowers greeting them. At the head of the bustling social workers and waiting parents, Aerith sat at her desk, her work space decorated with flowers and a bowl of hard candy. She looked up and smiled at the two as they walked over. "Hi, Cloud. Ven." She greeted them.

"Hey, Aerith. Is Vanitas ready to go?" Asked Cloud.

"He's getting the last of his things so he should be here soon. I still need you to sign his release forms and some other documents, Cloud." She slid a clipboard and tiny, white plastic bag over to him. "Oh yes, and I need to talk to you about the medication he needs to take."

"Right. Ven, this is going to take a while," Cloud said to his charge. "Would you mind waiting a bit?"

"Sure. I'm gonna head to the restroom real quick. Be back." Said the blonde before he turned his heel and made a beeline for the restroom. Once inside, he splashed some water on his face and took a deep breath, looking at himself dead in the mirror. "Everything's fine. Everything's fine." He repeated to himself. He was surprised he managed to stay calm the first five minutes he walked into this building. He beat his own record.

This place wasn't bad. They hadn't done anything to him, except show him love and kindness when they took him away from his old home. And they had introduced him to Cloud and the rest of his foster family. People he loved and who he saw as his own family. The adoption agency had done so much good for him. Coming to this place wasn't what had him acting like this, nor was it seeing Vanitas again. It was an old thought, old paranoia that sounded silly when he said it aloud, yet it felt so real when it was whispered in the back of his head. And it felt stronger now that he was here.

 _What if Cloud bought him here and just… Left. What would happen then?_

"Hey, move it." Said a voice from behind him. "You're hogging up the sink."

Yelping, Ven leapt away from the sink, his shoulder clipping against the person behind him.

"Watch it." Hissed the person, and they promptly took the sink for themselves and began to wash their hands. "Dumbass."

Embarrassed and humiliated, Ven shook his head as he caught his breath. While whoever this was, was rude, he did feel bad for hitting him on accident.

"I-I'm sorry," He said as he looked up. "You caught me off-"

"Huh?" The young man stared back at him with his bright, bright brown eyes, narrowing them as Ven lost his voice. "Speak up. Or what, you never seen someone wear a bandage on their neck."

Indeed there was a thick gauze wrapped around his neck. The hoodie he wore almost hid it, but that wasn't what Ven was staring at. No, it was the entirety of the other boy himself. He looked nothing like Ventus remembered, save for those eyes. He would never forget those eyes. They were as memorable as the sour smell that drifted in the old house he used to live in.

It looked like he had dipped his head into an entire oil drum of Indian ink. His clothes, new probably once some time ago, were all dark and a size too big. He had an inch or two over Ventus, though those spikes on his head could have been the reason why. And while he looked a little skinny and pale, Ventus could remember when this kid had baby fat. He remembered when his hands were small and how they would grab at his own and squeeze, squeeze, _squeeze._ To the point of pain. Everything came back to him and while it didn't crash into him like a ton of bricks and knocked him out just as so, he still found himself stunned at what he was seeing.

Either the other was growing bored or irritated (or both) of Ven's silence, because he clicked his tongue once and shook his head as Ven seemed to return from his daze. "Fucking weirdo. I'm out of here." He said, returning Ven's action from before by making sure his shoulder squarely hit Ven's. Hard. Ven grabbed his shoulder and held it with a whimper, stumbling where he was as the other boy left the bathroom. That should have woken him from this dream, right? That couldn't have been the boy he had grown up with before. Not this moody individual. But he had to go see it for himself. He just had to confirm it. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Ventus raced out of the bathroom and looked around, his eyes landing on the unruly head of black hair, Cloud standing before him with Aerith smiling sweetly beside them. There was no doubt about it.

That was Vanitas.

* * *

Like all of the other foster children he had taken in, Cloud had driven over to the nearest fast food joint and asked Vanitas what he wanted to eat. And like every other child, Vanitas stared at him like he was crazy before he chose a burger with the works.

During the ride home, Cloud chatted with Vanitas about little things. Nothing probing or deep, just little things that would get him comfortable with talking to other people. Ven had gone through the same thing his first time and the several other times when the twins and Xion were bought over. Cloud also asked if there was anything specific he wanted to pick up. Vanitas was too busy shoveling fries into his mouth to answer so Cloud assumed he was fine for now. Ven kept his gaze on the world outside the window, his stomach churning from watching the boy in the passenger's seat eat like an animal.

They were back at the Valentine's in no time, just a little around noon. Under the sun and sitting beneath the porch, Seifer and the girls looked up as Cloud's car drove into the driveway. And with the speed and power of a stampede, the girls came running over to the car with pieces of paper in hand, all of them jumping erratically as Cloud came out.

"Easy girls, easy." Laughed their foster father as he kissed them each on the forehead. "I get that you're excited but we got to let Vanitas get settled in first, OK?"

"But we drew pictures!" Each girl showed their drawings while they looked at Cloud with big, pleading eyes. "We worked on them for hours." Said Yuna with a pout.

"Then I'm sure he'll appreciate them more after he gets comfortable in his room, alright?" He asked, looking over to Vanitas. "Do you need help with your bag, Vanitas?"

The new child gave him a raised brow, shaking the old backpack he had with him once. It was all he had on him, save for the milkshake Cloud had bought him.

"Guess not." Said Cloud, feeling awkward before he gestured to the house. "Anyway, this is the house. We've made you a room upstairs so I'll show you that before I show you the rest of the house." He said, leading Vanitas into the house. The girls chased after them with their drawings while Ven lagged behind them.

"So, that's the new kid." Seifer was busy picking up all the crayons the sisters had left scattered around.

"Yeah." Ventus knelt down and helped him clean up the scattered papers. He smiled at a drawing of a black dog he found, 'Vanny' written along the bottom.

"Looks like a little shit." Deadpanned the eldest as he scooped the last of the crayons into a plastic bucket.

Seifer had called them all that. As jokingly and in his own Seifer-way. Ven and the others had gotten used to it, since their eldest foster brother wasn't a bad person. He was rebellious, but knew when something was amiss. Normally Ven would tell him to not curse with the girls possibly being a room away from them. But with the faint yellowing on his shoulder starting to appear, he was going to let this one slide and agree with Seifer.

* * *

Sora, Roxas, and Xion had came back from hanging out at Riku's. And just like the girls, they were more than eager to meet the newest addition to their family. And just like before, Cloud turned them away or caught them by the open ladder leading to the attic. "Give him some time to get comfortable first, guys." He said before Roxas had even made it on the first step. "He'll come down when he wishes. Until then, just leave him be, OK? And if anything, you can meet him at dinner later. Now shoo."

"Man," Sora flopped onto the floor as Roxas and Ventus booted up the PlayStation. "It's not fair, Ven. You got to meet him first." He said, resting his bandaged arm on his chest. "How come the rest of us can't?"

"You heard Cloud. Can't be bugging him on his first day," Said Roxas as the loading screen dragged on a little too long. They might have needed to reset the thing already. "Besides, he's not going to be staying here long anyway. What's the point if he's going to leave soon?"

"Roxas, don't be mean." Xion said from her spot on the couch. "We should all try to get to know Vanitas. He's new here and could probably use the company once he gets settled in." Ignoring Roxas' eye roll, Xion turned her attention to Ven. "What's he like, Ven? What does he look like?"

 _'Nothing like I remember,'_ Ven kept that thought to himself before he spoke. "Same as any of us when we first got here. A little quiet, unsure about how to act." Oh no, Vanitas was the opposite of that. When he was given the chance to talk, he was loud. So loud that the ego and snark in his voice was deafening. He acted like he had done this before, unsurprising since Cloud and Sephiroth had talked about him being moved to multiple foster homes. The hesitance he had with Cloud for the first few moments had vaniashed as soon as he got comfortable in the car. Granted there were moments that caught him off guard, like when Cloud had let him order whatever he wanted when they got food, and gave as much as he want. Ven caught that look of surprise on his face too when Cloud was showing him his room (or was it because his new room was an attic? An attic that was cleaned and big enough to live in sure, but an attic nonetheless.). And like every new child that came into the house, he was't used to having his head patted by Cloud. And he showed it, by evading the pat and pretending that his new guardian didn't exist for a hot minute or two. That was new. "He's got dark hair, brown eyes, wears these dark clothes, and, uh…"

"Did he forget to mention I like long walks on the beach?" Strolling down the steps was the man of the hour himself. Ventus closed his mouth and kept his eyes on the TV as Vanitas walked into the living room, cleaned up and dressed in a new black t-shirt and the jeans he was wearing before. "What, going to pretend I'm not here? Where's your hospitality?"

"It must have been forgotten, like your manners." Snapped back Roxas with a glare.

"Rox!" Sora was on his feet and between the two as they scowled at one another. "Come on, we shouldn't be fighting when we only just met today. Sorry," Sora turned his attention to their guest. "Roxas didn't mean what he said. He just says the first thing that pops into his head sometimes." Bless Sora's heart that he didn't see the first gesture that popped into Roxas' head, that came in the form of his finger. "Anyway, hi," He greeted. "I'm Sora. You already met Ventus and Roxas. She's Xion."

"Hi." Xion waved from her seat. "It's nice to meet you, Vanitas. Are you settled in?"

"I'm sleeping in an attic." The bluntness of his voice made her shrivel on the couch. "But it's better than the other places I slept in so sure." His words changed and twisted unpleasantly, like he was on a switch. It made Ven's skin crawl. "What are you playing?" He asked as he looked at the TV.

"Project K." Said Sora as he took his seat on the floor again. "It's a fighting game we saved up for last Christmas. Want to play?"

"Pass." Roxas and Ventus could feel his stare glued to the back of their heads. One boy was gritting his teeth in annoyance while the other sat completely still, his trigger finger plucking through the different color palettes his avatar was given. "That piece of crap looks like it'll break any minute. Besides, Roxass over here looks like he'll strangle me if I stay here longer." Vanitas made his way over to the kitchen, seeming to be heading to the door that lead into the backyard. "Nice meeting you." He said sarcastically.

"Strangling him would be merciful." Roxas growled under his breath.

"Rox," Sora shook his head as he scooted over to his twin, placing his good arm around him. "We promised Cloud we'd be nice."

"I'll start being nice when the first thing that comes out of his mouth doesn't make me want to punch him." Huffed his twin. "Good thing is he's not going to be staying here long."

"He'll be gone before you know it." Even though she was saying it for Roxas' sake, Ventus could hear the relief in Xion's voice when she said that. Even she didn't like him.

"Let's just play," Said Ventus finally once the four of them settled down. "Rounds of five. Teams. No items. Losers wash the dishes for tonight." There would be a lot of dishes that night. Cloud loved to cook a big meal whenever a new kid moved into the house. With the literal black storm cloud out of their radar, the four returned to their game, enjoying themselves like before.

* * *

A few rounds of games and many loses to Roxas and Xion later (it was scary how in sync the two could be when it came to team matches.), Ventus and Sora helped Cloud move all the food they prepared for Vanitas' first dinner there to the table, the kitchen scrubbed clean for the occasion. Sephiroth returned early from work once again at Cloud's request and soon enough, all of them were seated at the table. Ventus made sure to take a seat farthest away from the new sibling.

Needless to say, despite the look of a cat dumped in cold water as shown on Vanitas' face, the table was abuzz with talk and questions directed at Vanitas, though Ven and Roxas just kept to their plates and ate.

"You lived in Radiant Garden before?" Asked Sora with eyes filled with wonder. "That's amazing! Is it as pretty as it is when they decorate it for the Thanksgiving parades?"

"It's clean," Vanitas shrugged, drowning his mashed potatoes in thick gravy. "And it's a lot bigger than here. Traverse Town is a lot smaller than here, though. The second family I lived with had this fireworks shop close by and we would all sneak out and grab the biggest fire works there-" He stopped, flashing a grin as Sephiroth raised a brow at him. "We paid for them, of course. And we didn't set them off until 4th of July." He leaned over to Sora and whispered mischievously. "You can tell where the shops are easily. I'll show you how to find them and we can grab some,"

"But not light them up here, right? We can't light them up around here, it's illegal."

"No, no, of course not." Vanitas went back to his plate and snickered quietly. "We can always find somewhere else." Ven was sure he heard that right. He was also sure that his foster parents heard that, but either they hadn't or they were keeping quiet so that they could have a stern talk to Vanitas about it later.

For the most part, Vanitas had backed off with his attitude when Cloud and Sephiroth were in the room. It almost completely shot down when Sephiroth was around. Vanitas had gotten smart- like the rest of them- and didn't try to poke and prod too much at the former military captain, lest he or any of them were to face his wrath. But fortunately for the others, Vanitas had yet to figure out Sephiroth's soft spot for all the foster children and Cloud. For a while, Vanitas wouldn't be able to do as he pleased with Scary Dad around.

"Vanitas," Cloud said once the talk of explosives was out of the way. "Ventus and the others are going to take you school on Monday and show you to your classes. I left your uniform on your bed and a spare is in the dresser. Just put it in the hamper downstairs when it needs to be washed."

"We actually go to public school?" The ego was gone for a moment, genuine curiosity in Vanitas' voice. He seemed to snap out of it and arched his brow with an amused look. "Most of the homes I lived in wanted the kids to be homeschooled. How'd you convince the stiffs other wise."

"The agency," Stated Sephiroth, and when he spoke the amusement watered down a little. "Made an exception with Cloud and I since most kids we've sent to public school seem to benefit from it more than homeschooling."

"If you want to be homeschooled though, we can do it." Said Cloud, matching the look his husband thrown back at him. "We can. I can just start working on odd days and-"

"Nah," Vanitas cut him off before he could go on. "I was just asking, s'all. It's just going to be school with a lot more kids, right? Shouldn't be too hard to handle." He said. Ven was stunned for a minute. That was actually pretty considerate of him.

"If you're sure. But just let us know if you don't feel comfortable with it and we can work out something else." Said Cloud.

Vanitas nodded and went back to his food, the mood settling back and the talks resuming. Only, the mood wasn't settling for Ventus. In that brief moment of catching Vanitas show a hint of empathy (or what looked like it), Ventus caught a glimpse of a different person. Someone completely different than the person sitting all the way at the other end of the table and secretly encouraging the girls to squeeze their baked yams to form a makeshift finger paint. And this different person unsettled Ven.

As soon as their plates were clean, everyone filed into the living room while Ven and Sora washed the dishes. Sora was going on about his excited he was to show Vanitas the school tomorrow and Ven nodded along to what he was saying while his mind was preoccupied with what happened before. He couldn't wrap his head around it, or even fathom that this was actually happening, but maybe things wouldn't be so bad. Maybe he wouldn't be reliving his past. Just the thought alone was making him feel better.

"I gotta introduce him to everyone at lunch." Said Sora, bringing Ventus back to reality once the two of them had the last of the dishes done. "No, no wait first I let him walk in and tell him to pretend to be me. It's gonna throw off Riku and Kairi so hard when they think I suddenly have long, black hair." Ventus couldn't hold back his laugh, agreeing with his foster brother as they walked into the living room. Roxas and Seifer were busy disagreeing with one another over which movie they should watch that night ("Action-thriller!" "Sports drama!"), and the kids and their guardians were still settling in, blankets and cushions tossed around.

"Hey, do we need anything else before we pick a movie?" Ventus asked over the commotion.

"Can you grab one of the new boxes of pop corn we have in the pantry and make a bag?" Asked Cloud, leaning himself against Sephiroth while the latter played slap with Rikku (clearly she had bested the man who had years of combat training behind him, judging by every cheer of victory she made.) "Maybe two since we have more people." Could noted. Ventus could tell how happy he was when he said that. Cloud loved taking care of children, and he especially loved helping them. It made the blonde all the more happy to help him out.

Clicking his tongue with a set of finger guns, Ven went back to the kitchen and searched through the pantry. After finding and stashing a bag of butter-blast popcorn into the microwave, he leaned back against the kitchen table as he waited, hearing his family finally decide on a movie in the room. He almost walked back in to see what they picked when he started to smell something burning. "Oh crap." He ran over to the microwave and canceled the time, flipping open the little hatch to find a now deflating bag of pre-popped popcorn. Weird, that smell wasn't coming from the bag. Not even a minute passed. "Then where…?" He sniffed, his eyes falling to the backyard door. Remembering what Cloud taught him, the blonde grabbed the fire extinguisher they kept in the kitchen and bursted into the backyard, readying the red tank.

The way Vanitas looked calmly at him should have startled him first. Even more so, the old trash can that had a fire swelling inside it should have done it first. But no. It was neither of those. It was the piece of notebook paper that had just flown into the fire. The very same paper Yuna and her sisters had used that day, that had pictures drawn for Vanitas, to welcome him to their home.

"What…" Ven managed to find his voice. Sort of. "What… What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Sarcastic. Snarky. An attitude that made Ventus' blood boil. "You can take a guess, right?" He smirked. That same smirk. Ven's memory didn't fail him at remembering it. It looked gross, weird especially since Sora had bought up how he and Vanitas looked similar. A look like that shouldn't be on Sora's face. "The question is, what are you going to do about it?" Asked Vanitas as he walked over to Ven. The boy had a choice; use the the extinguisher for its use, or something else in case the newest family member tried anything. If he was able to magically conjure fire somehow, who knew what else he was capable of? "Are you going to snitch? I bet that's what you're all about. You do whatever they say, right? Why? You think that'll do you any good? Especially how old you are?" He laughed, and he was right in Ven's face. He could see his eyes more closely now. They looked like a cat's, one that had been found with a dead bird in its mouth and was not afraid to show it. "No one wants to adopt kids who are too old for the system. Everyone knows that. They wants kid that are young enough to imprint immediately on them. Face it, Ventus." He said he name mockingly. "No one wants an old bastard."

Ven didn't move for a second. As the air became drier from the fire, he licked his lips and cleared his throat. "You can't start a bonfire without telling Cloud or Sephiroth." He said, walking past Vanitas and spraying the fire with white foam. "The trees and grass in the slope are dry enough to cause a fire. We need to rake them later in the week before we can make the bonfires we have in fall." Ven looked back at him, his eyes blank as he spoke. "So just wait a while, OK? Respect their rules and they're house. They're the ones who took us in when no one else was going to. You should at least show some gratitude by not doing anything stupid."

They had the longest staring contest. Blue meeting amber, two forces never breaking from one another. That is until Vanitas suddenly jerked forward. "Boo!"

Ven flinched, And Vanitas took it as his win. He smirked at the now aghast blonde as he held his fire extinguisher like a shield. "Scaredy bitch." He taunted, turning to the backdoor and walking over to it. "All talk but no bite. But I'll be sure to take your advise into consideration, Ventus." With a chuckle, the dark-haired newcomer slammed the door behind him and left Ven to clean up the blackened trash can. And as he dragged the can over to the shed, Ven knew one thing for certain. And though as certain as he was with it, it only left him puzzled and confused.

Vanitas didn't remember who Ventus was.

* * *

 _ **Thank you so much for checking out the chapter, guys ^^ It took me a while over Thanksgiving to decide how to approach Vanitas' character in this. I plan on making it at least over 20 chapters with small separate one shots covering events from other characters' pov. It's going to be long but I hope you guys are as excited as I am to be on it. Thanks again for checking the fic! See you next time!**_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Author notes are at the bottom of this chapter. Thanks for checking out the fic ^^_**

* * *

The first one to visit him that night was Sora.

Which was weird. Didn't this kid have a sprain? How did he manage to climb up the ladder?

"Hi," From out of thin air, Sora whipped out a deck of cards and waved it around. "Wanna play some cards?"

He stared back at him for a moment, then he looked at his stained, orange hands, then back to Sora. He shrugged. "Sure."

Instead of poker chips, they bet these strawberry candies Sora kept stashed in his, Roxas', and Ventus' room ("Feel free to take some when you want."). Sora didn't ask about his hands and played fair, unlike a lot of other kids he met while being moved around. By the end of the night, he had won ten pieces of candy and a bus pass. "Uh-"

"That one's yours," Sora interrupted him with a smile. "Cloud told me to give it to you but I wanted to make giving it to you more fun."

Vanitas liked this kid.

The next night, Roxas visited him.

"You mess with my family, make sure you start sleeping with one eye open."

Duly noted.

Xion was there the next night. She had a few shopping bags with her but they were old and used. And filled with sewing supplies and clothes.

"Cloud said some of the clothes he bought you were too snug," She said as she pulled some fabric and needles from the bags. "So I said I could make some alterations for you." She said.

He was hesitant but handed over his new clothes anyway. He sat on the bed and watched her cut and sew on the floor. She looked like she knew what she was doing, and by the time she was done, the new clothes did look a little more his size. Hell, they looked better.

"Where'd you learn to do this?" He asked as he examined one of his new shirts. The embroidery had really nice details, he noticed.

Xion blushed, suddenly turning shy. "YouTube. I wanted to help Cloud in someway after he and Sephiroth took me in and I noticed that sometimes they can't always buy new clothes for everyone and sometimes we need to wear hand-me-downs," She said as she handed him the last pair of jeans she altered. Handkerchiefs now covered the rips that were there. "School dress code." She explained as he gave her a puzzled look. "Sometimes they let you off with a warning, other times they send you to detention for showing your shoulders." She shrugged. "Hope you get used to it."

The fourth night were the girls and Seifer. The three of them were probably the most enthusiastic to have him there. "We get another big brother," Exclaimed Yuna while she and her sisters handed him more drawings. Vanitas could feel Seifer staring at him but he learned a long time ago how to ignore that from other people. The girls stayed a lot longer than Xion since they wanted to talk about their day with Vanitas. And seeing that the eldest brother of the house was making sure they could, Vanitas didn't have much of a choice.

The fifth night had the last person he'd expect.

"Here," Sephiroth handed him the current driver's ed handbook while he was reading a book Sora gave him that day. "Once you memorize the whole thing, I'm taking you to get your driver's permit. Once you receive it, either Cloud and I will teach you how to drive the Sundays afterwards."

"You teach all the kids you get how to drive?" Asked Vanitas after he flipped through a few pages.

"Only those who are old enough."

"What's to say I won't just jack your car once you teach me?" Vanitas had a pretty good idea of what would happen when Sephiroth looked him dead in the eye. It was like his soul was being frozen to where it was. "… I guess I can give it a try. Don't blame me if it has some dinges and scratches, though."

"Funny thing that they say that about the children we take in," Vanitas stared at him in disbelief as he made his way to the door. "But we prove them wrong." Assured the long-haired man as he climbed down the ladder. More disbelief. More than Vanitas could process that night.

He read the driver's ed pamphlet until he fell asleep.

The sixth night was a quiet one. The twins and Xion had tests tomorrow, Seifer had football practice, the girls were supposed to go to bed early anyway, and Cloud and Sephiroth had work in the morning. He was halfway through his book but wanted to save the rest for later. He was bored, and it felt weird that no one was poking their head through the trap door to visit him. What a weird feeling. He never felt this when he was living in the other homes.

He supposed he could sneak downstairs and watch TV for a while. The girls had mentioned they would have movie nights with Sephiroth and Sora in the dead of night, so why couldn't he?

Carefully did he climb down the ladder and down the stairs, making sure he didn't make a sound as he made his way to the living room. The darkness began to fade as he entered the room and he couldn't help but smirk when he evidently spooked someone on the couch.

"Hey."

* * *

Ventus took deep, long breaths to calm his racing heart as he glared back at Vanitas. He had just taken out his contacts so his vision was a little blurry. And that helped to make Vanitas resemble more of a shadow monster than he did with light. _'More like a demon.'_ Ventus expected him to start crawling up the walls by now.

"Hey," He replied back carefully. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Shouldn't you?"

The smug tone was irritating. "I have to study." He showed the text book and piece of scratch paper he had on his lap.

"Oh, then by all means," Vanitas held up his hands as he walked over to the recliner and made himself comfortable, finding the remote and turning the TV on. He set it on the loudest yet quietest volume possible, quiet enough to not be heard by anyone in the house but loud _enough_ if someone were to come walking out of their room. "Don't stop on my account." He said as he flipped through the channels.

"Could you please turn it down a little?" Asked Ventus. The volume went up by one bar. "Down. Please." He said through gritted teeth.

"Why not say it a little more nicely?" Vanitas kicked back in the recliner and stared back at Ven, clearing enjoying himself. "What, are you afraid of getting caught? You were gonna be at risk for it when you came down anyway."

"I wanted to study," He smacked his text book lightly to prove his point. "And not wake up Roxas and Sora. But you're gonna end up waking _everyone_ if you don't turn down the TV."

"Hmmm," Vanitas twirled the remote between his finger tips, pondering too long for Ven's liking. "Fine. I'll turn it off, but I get to watch you study."

"Excuse me?" He heard that right, right? It looked like he did, since Vanitas had turned off the TV and was now invading his personal space. There was just an inch of space between them and he almost felt threatened by those spikes that could probably poke an eye out. "I thought you were going to watch TV?"

"This is more interesting." More like amusing, Ven guessed, since he was sure the irritation on his face was showing. "Besides, aren't we family now? Come on, let's spend some quality time together." He said with a snicker.

Vanitas didn't need insults to annoy or make him mad. The evidence was clear, at least to Ven since a hot sensation was starting to burn in his chest. Just being in this guy's presence was doing this to him. Those feelings of confusion from a week ago were gone. Now he was more annoyed than scared. But, he wouldn't let that stop him tonight. He needed to study. So he re-tucked his legs and adjusted his supplies, going back to his economics textbook.

 _Pop_

Ven slowly turned his head in the direction of the sound. Vanitas smirked. _Pop_ went his lips.

"Will you-" He stopped, remembering what happened earlier. "Will you _please_ not make that noise?"

"Since you asked so nicely."

The silence lasted for a good five minutes.

"So when did you get dumped by your parents?"

Ventus slammed the book shut and stood up. He looked over his shoulder to the young man who wore an _innocent_ expression on his face. Screw 'spending quality time together,' he couldn't wait for Vanitas to leave.

"Goodnight." He grounded out the words before he left Vanitas, gripping his text book so tight that his knuckles turned white. The question stung, but not as much as the lack of knowledge Vanitas didn't have. Knowledge he _should_ have had. Ven's parents didn't 'dump' him. They didn't have the chance to since they passed away when he was a baby.

* * *

"Uh… Ven?" Sora shook his foster brother's shoulder. "You're gonna drown in your salad dressing. Ven!"

His tired thoughts cleared away like clouds shying away from the sun. Ventus blinked a few times, his eyes stinging a little. "Huh?" Blinked a few times to stop the irritation and looked up, waking up further as everyone at the table was staring at him. "Sorry, I guess I didn't get enough sleep last night." He apologized, feeling around the back of his chair for his bag and pocket that had his eye drops.

"You want me to get you some coffee from the café?" Asked Kairi, already starting to stand. She had been friends with them since the start of middle school and was the first person to act if someone needed help. She really was a sweet girl.

"Maybe in a bit. I kind of want to walk around a little so heading over there could help." Said Ven, since the café was down the street and the school allowed students to grab lunch near the school zone. And he really did need a walk, since being so cramped up on long lunch tables with a hundred-plus students made him feel stiff, plus the run in with Vanitas last night had caused him to go to sleep angry, which hadn't left him much time to sleep at all.

By the time he was up that morning, he was already over it. He was asked questions about what happened to his parents before and he could only remember the one true fact; they died while he was still small. There wasn't any records on them, as far as he knew, and by the time he was old enough to go check, he was already comfortable at the Valentines. Why would he need to dig up more?

Either way, his anger toward Vanitas was gone. It was back to annoyance, unease, and curiosity. A terrible triple threat.

"I wanna come, too! They just started putting up their holiday hot chocolates again!" Said Sora with excitement in his eyes.

"Sora, that's just more chocolate syrup with sea salt whipped cream and some shredded candy cane." Pointed out Riku as he sat next to him. He had to have been the tallest out of the group, and the most intimidating. The way he squinted and just looked in general made a few other students steer clear. All except Sora, who practically dragged him into their friend circle and declared him to be his best friend, much to the annoyance and envy of his twin.

"Riku's right, Sora," Said Roxas from the other side. "You need to ask for chocolate shavings and an apple pie with vanilla ice cream. _Then_ when you're half-way done with the hot chocolate, you dump the ice cream in your mug."

"Why are you enabling him?" Asked Riku with a deadpanned look on his face.

"I'm his twin," Roxas pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone. No one could miss the mirth in his eyes. "I know him better than you."

"Anyway," Xion danced them out of that scene as the two boys stared each other down. "We should all get ready to leave soon if we want to make it to the café."

"Just one more second," Namine held her hand up to stop them from getting up, her eyes focused on her sketchbook. "Sora, can you look a little towards me and frown?"

"Sora? Frowning?" Kairi tilted her head in confusion. "That's possible?"

"I can too frown." Stated Sora as the corners of his lips turned down, though for some reason it was becoming increasingly funny to him and he was starting to shake to hold in his laughter.

"Namine, he's going to hurt himself." Riku pointed out as he emptied his water bottle. "What are you drawing?"

"Him." And then she showed them her finished product. The sketch of Vanitas was so well done that it almost radiated his presence, and it in turn made Ventus feel squeamish. Still a good drawing though. Namine didn't have the skills for nothing. Then again, those skills weren't what won Xion's heart. It was her sweet and gentle nature, which had won them all over and made Kairi proud to call the artist her sister. "He really moves around a lot so it as hard to draw him." She said.

Him being the muse of her latest art piece, who had probably left the cafeteria with his new friends.

"You have to draw every new person that comes here without their knowledge, huh?" Sighed Roxas. "Still, this drawing is better than the real thing. At least it doesn't talk."

"Is he really that bad?" Asked Kairi.

"He's still settling in." Xion broke the soft cookie she bought into pieces, handing some to Namine while she nibbled on her own. "He just needs some time to adjust. Cloud told us Seifer was the same when he was bought to the house."

' _Seifer didn't burn the girls' drawings, though.'_ Ven still hadn't told anyone about that, let alone his little sisters. It wouldn't bring the drawings back and he didn't want to see the looks of disappointment on their faces.

"He's settling in with Larxene and her group pretty well." And that's when everyone either made or tried to hide a face. They knew well of that group, a little faction of bullies or loners that found comfort in loitering and claiming parts of the school as their own. Some rumors even went around that a lot of members of the group did more than skip class or smoke in the bathrooms by the quad.

"Those kids with the try-hard nicknames?" Asked Riku. "Why would he be with them?"

"Lea was with them for a while. Said they were just kids that liked to start shit or just mess with people for the hell of it." Said Roxas, making Vanitas' reason more probable. "He even stopped me and Xion from hanging out with them during middle school."

"He said not all the kids were bad but we should stay away from Larxene and Marluxia," Xion shuddered. "Larxene is-"

"A bitch?"

"A little abrasive," Xion corrected while Roxas shook his head. "I've had some classes with her."

"She hasn't picked on you or anything, right?" Asked Namine.

Xion placed her hand on top of hers and shook her head. "No. She ignores me when we have to do group products and takes most of the credit on the work. Something about how hard it is to take leadership." She turned her attention back to her friends. "But Marluxia-"

"Guys, we only have a while until the warning bell rings." Ventus stood up with his tray of half-finished food. "Come on, let's go." He went off to the trash can with the others following after him, all of them sharing looks over the abruptness of… whatever that was.

Ven was ahead of the group as they made their way out of the cafeteria and to the back of the school. There was a parking lot and a gated entrance over on that side, which was opened for students during lunch time if they wanted to pick up food from nearby. Though a cup of coffee and slice of apple pie was tempting, Ventus really wanted to get out of the school and away from Vanitas more than anything. His mind was already in a jumble and Vanitas had made it clear that he was going to be thorn in his side for whatever reason. Either he did remember or he didn't, Ven knew he shouldn't be digging a hole about it. Especially since Vanitas wouldn't be staying for long. He just needed to steer clear of him.

As soon as he stepped onto the parking lot, he knew that wasn't going to be possible. After all, Larxene, amongst her friends with the newest addition to their squad, was pointing at him with Vanitas at her side.

* * *

"What about her?"

"The prep? Eh…" Vanitas leaned back against the car he sat on, his lips curling into a smirk. "Maybe. Scare her with something gross in her locker. Maybe some garbage."

"Simple. Plus the garbage here reeks." Larxene laughed, popping her gum in her mouth. She pulled out a stick of it and held it out to him. He shook his head. "C'mon, I wanna have enough to stick into Marluxia's brush."

"I'll chase you down the street with my car if you try that, my dear." The car they sat on revved up and Larxene yelped. She turned and and started slamming her hand against the window, laughing.

"You bitch, take a joke for once in your life!" She exclaimed while nearly busting a gut. Marluxia kept running the engine in response and their other friends joined in, either cheering for the blonde or the fabulous man behind the wheel. Vanitas kept to himself but enjoyed the show.

On his second day here, Larxene tested him, like she did with all new students that just had a certain _something_ to them, and sent two of her friends after him to try and force-dye his hair a bright orange. By the end of the scuffle and some well-aimed shots to their pants and shirts, Vanitas got away with stained hands and a circle of friends. Well, sort of. They made school easier to get used to and even though the nicknames were strange to him (he made sure he didn't get one when he started hanging around), they were cool. The ones he hung out with and talked to the most were Larxene, Marluxia, Demyx, and Zexion.

The couple was a pair of polar opposites that had stuck around with Larxene's group since Demyx was her cousin. He was laid back while his boyfriend had his nose constantly in a book, and they were fun to have around, according to Larxene. Marluxia was an artsy student that had taken over most of the art departments and whose influence could shake the grounds of the very school. A little too elegant for Vanitas' taste but at least there was Larxene. She knew what she wanted and how to get it, even if it did take a lot of pushing. What she and the others did made him laugh, so hanging out with them for the past week had been fun.

'Harmless' target practice was the game for today. They would sit in parking lot and pick whatever student that interested them. Whatever they did to the person and if they would actually do it depended on the pointer's mood. And in the end, it didn't matter if they did it or not. At least there was a good laugh about it and people didn't mess with them.

"Hm…" Larxene scanned the crowd of students, tapping her nails against the hood of Marluxia's car, before she pointed at a student that just entered the scene. "What about him?"

Vanitas followed her finger and his eyes landed on the stunned blonde across the way. Ventus? He stared back at the boy for a second, the gears turning in his head as he could see him thinking. Was he going to bolt straight past them, or behind him? Call for help or keep his mouth shut? Would fight or flight kick in first?

His eyes were turning big and his shoulders were starting to rise and fall fast. _Whoa_. He was _really_ starting to freak out. And nothing was even happening to him yet. Or maybe, he was acting this way because of what he was seeing, not what came after. A huge group of people, who had happen to be known for cruel pranks, plus the people from Larxene's group were already standing up, and the fact that _he_ was sitting right next to the leader of said group? Yeah, Ven must have been pissing his pants at this point. Which Vanitas would have found funny, but…

"… Nah," He tucked his arms behind this back and laid back, much to Larxene's and Ventus' surprise. "We live in the same house. Anything happens to him, he tells my meal ticket and landlord and I'm shipped out of here to some other shit hole." He cracked one evil eye open. "And if any of you go and mess this up for me, I'll fuck your shit up so bad, don't even test me."

His threat seemed to work, since the goons sat down and everyone went back to doing what they were doing. Larxene was looking at him sideways, though. Not that he cared.

'Harmless' target practice was fun. But Ventus was his own target, his owns means to an end. He wasn't going to let anyone mess with what he already had sights on. Besides, his own actions were childish, annoying. They weren't bad enough to make someone cry. And it looked like Ventus was going to, judging by his earlier reaction. Crying was breaking someone, and Vanitas didn't like to break his toys.

At least, that was what he kept telling himself when he remembered what happened earlier.

And he kept telling himself that as Ven and the others shuffled away.

* * *

Ven finished off the last of his hot chocolate with a satisfied sigh.

"Feeling better?" Asked Roxas as they sat side-by-side. The girls had gone to the bathroom while Sora and Riku went to the counter to get some to-go snacks. The little café was getting ready to shoo students in order to give them a head start to return to class and they were preparing for their next line of customers. Ventus could already smell the freshly baked muffins they had in their oven.

"A lot, thanks." He told a Roxas as he placed his mug on the counter behind him. "Sorry, I guess I just sort of freaked out when they saw me." He had no idea what kind of prank would be in store for him but he _knew_ it wouldn't end well.

"Hey, I would have, too."

Ven almost snorted. "You wouldn't do that until you got a few swings in before they got you."

Roxas tapped his plastic fork against his plate. "Think so, huh?" Spinning to the counter on his stool, Roxas stared out the large glass window of the café, watching people and cars pass by like they normally did. "Maybe. But I would shit my pants first before I get angry. Natural response and all that, you know."

"You don't ever look scared though, Rox," Ventus spun around with him, his legs crossed right on top of the stool. "You're the bravest person I know."

Roxas chuckled. "I think you're getting brave and recklessness mixed up, Ven," But Roxas shook his head and skimmed past the subject before they got deeper into it. "Anyway, you sure you're doing OK?"

"Yeah, I am." At least he _sort of_ was. What had happened back there still confused him. It looked like Vanitas had just stopped Larxene from sending her friends after him to do who knows what. That wasn't really want happened, right? There had to be some explanation.

Still, Cloud taught him about repaying someone for something they did and even if it was for someone he wanted to stay away from, his moral compass was pulling him towards it. Even a small gesture should put it at ease.

The muffins smelled heavenly as the were being pulled out of the oven.

"Hey!" Sora and Riku came trotting back with their stuff. "Think this'll last us through-"

"I'm gonna go buy one more thing." Said Ventus before he stood and hurried to the counter. Sora and Riku looked at Roxas with puzzling expressions but the blonde could only shrug in return.

* * *

Ventus had took off from his last class the minute the bell rang, haphazardly walking around students that were coming out of class as well. If he remembered correctly, Vanitas' last class was English.

"Hey, has anyone seen where Vanitas went?" A lot of students wore some confused looks on their faces when he asked that. Some shook their heads while one or two pointed down the hallway. Ventus followed their direction and looked around. The hallways were starting to become full with more students and it was becoming a lot more difficult to spot those black spikes anywhere. _Where was he?_

As he made it closer to the bathrooms, he noticed a lot of the boys were staying clear of them. Like there was some sort of miasma drifting around it. Puzzled, Ven inched closer and closer to the door. The closer he got, the more empty the hallway became. When he was a foot or so away, the sounds of a scuffle could be heard, followed by a yelp of pain. Curiosity turned into fear, which then took the form of a gasp as the bathroom door swung open. Vanitas staggered out of the room with a bruise or two on his neck and a cut on his lip. It was just beginning to clot. Ven stared at him as he made his way out, seemingly not noticing the blonde until his head turned in his direction.

Vanitas spat. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." And then actually spat, a few droplets of red landing on Ventus' shoes.

"W-What happened?" Asked Ven, concern in his voice and eyes.

"Just had a wonderful chat with some friends," Muttered Vanitas sarcastically as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He hissed in pain.

"You idiot, that's only going to open it more!" Ven dropped his things altogether and took out some napkins from the white paper bag he had. "Stay there for a sec," He said, not giving Vanitas a chance to protest before he hurried to the nearest water fountain. He came back with a few wet napkins and some dry ones, shoving a wet one against Vanitas' face. "Here, it'll stop-"

" _Hands off!_ " Vanitas all but shoved a worried Ventus off him, breathing heavily and staring at him like an animal cornered in a cage. Ven hit the lockers, not hard enough to actually hurt but enough to startled him. The blonde looked back at Vanitas in a whirl of stunned confusion and bewilderment. What had just happened there?

He and Vanitas started back at each other, the two of them sharing looks that didn't fit their faces, neither one of them able to move where they stood. By now the teachers and students had left the hallway they occupied and it was just the two of them in that thick and tension-filled air. "I can…" Vanitas flexed his fingers, making them reach over to grab the fallen napkins from the floor. "I can handle it myself."

"R-Right," Ven nodded back, his throat a little dry from the scare. He cleared it and stood up a little, carefully walking over to his fallen things so not to start up Vanitas again. He had no idea how to act around this guy. "Um… I won't tell Cloud what I saw." He promised.

"You better." Vanitas gave him a sideways glare but it didn't look as tough with him holding bloody napkins against his lip. He had just open his cut again. "Because it's none of your business." He turned to walk away.

"Wait, before you go!" Vanitas stopped and could barely suppress the urge to groan. This kid was still going to ask questions, wasn't he? Was it because of what happened the night prior? Or what happened during lunch? Either way Ventus was't going to get his answers. Because Vanitas didn't have them all himself.

"If this about what happened at lunch, don't-" But then the white bag Ven had before was dropped into his hands. Vanitas stared at it, then at Ventus' retreating form as he ran off.

"Thanks for earlier!" He cried out before he took off, his face bright red with embarrassment. Mission accomplished?

"What even is-" Vanitas called after him, but the other boy was already gone. Vanitas huffed, lifting the bag up and down to test the density of the thing before he pulled it out. Green crumbs flaked off it, the wrapped confection hinting an aromatic yet sweet smell. Whipped cream now stained Vanitas fingers and a few crushed nuts fell to the floor. A muffin?

"What the hell?" Vanitas looked back in the direction Ven fled, then back to the muffin. If he tried to eat it, he'd open the cut again. It wouldn't taste as good.

He took a bite. Blood ran down his chin and the smell of pistachios invaded his nose. It was pretty good.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys! ^^ Thank you so much for checking out the fic and for keeping up with it! If this is your first time here, then welcome to the fic and I hope you enjoy your stay ^_^ Writing this fic is becoming a lot more fun, especially with all the new characters and personalities being introduced ^^ Your continued support has really inspired me to keep going. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you once more. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time! ^^**_


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